Ads May Appear in Space Next

Ads are everywhere and there is almost no way of escaping from them. You go on Instagram, you see them. Youtube, you see them. Now we’ll be seeing ads floating around in space soon.

Back in August, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said to peers that he’d be forming a new committee. To help them go commercial. The head of the new committee will be Maxar Technologies. He will be in charge of branding NASA’s spacecraft. As well as letting astronauts have endorsements just like professional athletes.

The main reason for this idea is to save money and offset the cost of certain missions that NASA does. Bridenstine believes that letting astronauts have endorsements will promote space travel to elevate their funding.

This idea goes against some of the oldest ways of NASA. They’ve been restricted from promoting themselves in commercial products or services. One fear is that this might change the way they talk to the press and others. Losing some professional ability. Not to mention that the advertisement money might not be enough to offset. NASA has a limited budget with some missions costing millions of dollars.

After all, NASA is a government agency and government employees are not supposed to have any kind of endorsements. They’ve gone the extra mile to cover up any brand names. For instance, they sent M&Ms up to space for the astronauts to eat. But NASA calls them “candy-coated chocolates.” In some videos, you may be able to see some named products but NASA never acknowledges them at all.

Although NASA cannot accept endorsements, their partners can. For instance, Canadian astronaut sang David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” in space and sold it once he landed on Earth. Russian space agencies have even filmed commercials up there.

But NASA has found some loopholes in the system and has managed to sell some products. For example, a hot wheel toy with NASA spacecraft and fashionable NASA apparel. Bridenstine says with ads, they would be able to return to the moon.

They’re working with other companies such as Space X and Boeing, but they can only spend as much money as Congress approves.

Another big fear is taxpayers who help fund NASA may not be on board with this. Some private companies don’t want them to go public at all. It is still in discussion and the new committee will decide what they will do with NASA.